Discussed how to regain credibility with learners, government, media: Ronnie Screwvala on edtech meet up

UpGrad founder Ronnie Screwvala.

Edtech giant upGrad’s co-founder Ronnie Screwvala said his fellow edtech founders discussed ways to gain credibility with learners, regulators, and the media in a meeting that he hosted in New Delhi this week.

Screwvala hosted the meeting to discuss core issues pertaining to the edtech sector in India.

“... A very good discussion on the common themes for all of us, and what we will do as a sector and industry to gain credibility with the customer—the learner, with the government, the regulators and generally within the media. These are the three constituents,” he told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the ASU+GSV and Emeritus summit in Gurugram, held earlier this week.

The upGrad co-founder added that the focus would not be on investor appeasement because once investors started seeing something good, they would follow. “They want to be fairweather friends; they are fairweather friends,” he said.

According to a source in the know, the meeting, hosted by Screwvala and upGrad co-founder Mayank Kumar, was attended by the founders of edtech unicorns Eruditus, Lead and Vedantu, among other companies. Of those who were invited, the founders of edtech unicorns PhysicsWallah and Unacademy, however, decided to sit out.

Prateek Maheshwari, one of the two co-founders of PhysicsWallah, is the chairperson of the India Edtech Consortium (IEC), a self-regulatory body set up last year to resolve consumer complaints.

In December 2021, edtechs such as Byju’s and UpGrad formed the IEC under the aegis of the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). upGrad’s Kumar initially held the chairperson position, but stepped down in October 2023 as he wanted to focus more on operations at upGrad.

Asked about the relevance of setting up another body, Screwvala said IEC’s work was not as effective. While there has been no decision on the formation of another body to replace IEC, Screwvala said that the edtech community would come up with a joint conclusion on the next steps.

The objective of bringing edtech founders together as a group is to ask the right questions and attain a better understanding of the regulatory actions that the sector faces, said a source in direct knowledge of the development.

This comes at a time when the Ministry of Education in India has announced new guidelines for coaching centres. The norms state that coaching centres cannot enroll students below the age of 16 and an admission procedure will be permitted only after the successful completion of the secondary school examination, among other guidelines.

This alo comes as the edtech sector faces the double whammy of plummeting investments and the fall of its posterboy, Byju’s.

Screwvala has been one of the most outspoken critics of Byju’s, as it plunged from one crisis to another over the last couple of years.

During a session at the summit, the upGrad cofounder said that Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of Byju’s, and around 51 investors, were collectively responsible for the company's downturn. It would not be correct to hold “the whole education sector to ransom” because of mistakes made by a few players, he added.